nds-bootstrap loader: Run commercial NDS backups from an SD Card

nds-bootstrap:

Thanks to the work of ahezard, Gericom, Apache, Robz8, _catcatcat, and shutterbug2000 and other contributors, we can now load NDS games from the SD card, without any flashcard/SLOT-1 card.

Don't expect high compatibility, but do expect many, many updates.

:arrow: Compatibility listing:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LRTkXOUXraTMjg1eedz_f7b5jiuyMv2x6e_jY_nyHSc/edit#gid=0

:arrow: The official Discord server for nds-bootstrap:
https://discordapp.com/invite/7bxTQfZ

:arrow: The thread for the recommended loader (by Robz8):
https://gbatemp.net/threads/twloader-ctr-mode-nds-app.448375/

:arrow: SRLoader for softmodded DSis (by Robz8):
https://gbatemp.net/threads/srloader-nds-app-for-dsi.472200/

:arrow: If you're more of a forwarder person:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/

:arrow: Link to the releases page:
https://github.com/ahezard/nds-bootstrap/releases

:arrow: Anti-Piracy patch list by Robz8
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ap-patch-preservation.477536/

Also, thank you to our testers:
Historian
JoshuaDoes
thejsa
Alerdy
PokeAcer


Also, a video thanks to Robz8:


And another thanks to Alerdy:
 
Last edited by shutterbug2000,

Elaugaufein

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2010
Messages
220
Trophies
0
XP
396
Country
I just redumped Pokemon Black with the current tools.

Doesn't seem to have made much difference, It may be a tiny bit less laggy on the internal transition loads, I felt comfortable enough to go outside Opelucid city this time. But on recomparing it the difference seems small.

Discovered that initiating battles (trainer or wild) doesn't work and leads to a White Screen (both on the old dump I was using on the Acekard / DSTwo previously and the new GM9 dump that gets the DSi stuff). Not sure if this is an AP issue (though I don't seem to remember this being an AP symptom when these first came out) or if this is an SDK5 issue.
 
Last edited by Elaugaufein,

Damin72

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2015
Messages
284
Trophies
0
Age
27
XP
1,757
Country
Russia
With last unofficial-SDK5 build:
-Start working Solatorobo (You guys don't realize, how i love this game!)
-Sonic Colors start working without donor-rom for first cutscene and with top-screen bug.
-Disgaea, Sonic Chronicles, CoD:BO, Sonic and ASR don't work.
 

Elaugaufein

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2010
Messages
220
Trophies
0
XP
396
Country
With last unofficial-SDK5 build:
-Start working Solatorobo (You guys don't realize, how i love this game!)
-Sonic Colors start working without donor-rom for first cutscene and with top-screen bug.
-Disgaea, Sonic Chronicles, CoD:BO, Sonic and ASR don't work.

Disgaea isn't an SDK5 game, it's an SDK4 game. It's not working on the latest official non-SDK5 build either.
 

ThoD

GBATemp Addict (apparently), but more like "bored"
Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2017
Messages
3,631
Trophies
1
Age
27
XP
3,049
Country
Greece
Tested a few games from SD card using forwarders just now and thought I should post my findings:

Pokemon Platinum (both US and E) and some versions of Diamond - Works perfectly fine at cart speeds but soft-reseting (L+R+Start+Select) gets you stuck on a white screen (gonna be a pain reseting for shiny legends)
Pokemon Black (US, AP patched) - Works at almost cart speeds, but gets stuck on a black screen as soon as the battle with Bianca starts after getting your starter
Ys Strategy (E) - Works exactly like a cart, although there can be very minor graphical glitches or rarely freeze for a frame or two during pop-up messages
Legacy of Ys: Books I & II (E) - Everything works perfectly performance-wise, but the bottom ~6% of each screen is distorted and just repeats what's shown right above it, breaking texts (still legible, but annoying)
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - Black screen after difficulty selection. Moving the save to No$GBA to get past that and back fixes it, but gets stuck elsewhere after randomly. Mission Mode blackscreens with sound after you depart on a Holo-Mission (when it's loading)

Hopefully we can get some more updates within the month to round up compatibility a bit by fixing the minor issues or random white/blackscreens...
 
  • Like
Reactions: DarkSynopsis

Pickle_Rick

I'm a pickle Morty!
Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
694
Trophies
0
Age
27
Location
Garage
XP
1,469
Country
United States
It worked, but after running Super Princess Peach it broke again wtf
Make sure you copied over the new nds-bootstrap file as well. The one that comes with dsimenu++ is outdated.

Mystery solved: it seems that if you return to dsmenu++ using the button combination instead of closing the app, the touchscreen doesn't work anymore
No, this works fine on my 3DS.
 

Damin72

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2015
Messages
284
Trophies
0
Age
27
XP
1,757
Country
Russia
Okay, my happiness didn't last long. I found in Solatorobo Critical Bug. When you try pick up an item, while exploring location, you get "You did not find anything...". And this is not problem, but in the end of Prologue, you need pick up quest item, but game sad "You did not find anything...". Literally, game unplayable at this moment.
 

RocketRobz

Stylish TWiLight Hero
Developer
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
16,593
Trophies
3
Age
24
XP
20,979
Country
United States
Okay, my happiness didn't last long. I found in Solatorobo Critical Bug. When you try pick up an item, while exploring location, you get "You did not find anything...". And this is not problem, but in the end of Prologue, you need pick up quest item, but game sad "You did not find anything...". Literally, game unplayable at this moment.
I got this as well.
Wasn't sure if it's an AP issue or anything, but it seems to be it.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
    Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty: I'm back